McEwan Only a Snap Away

He might not play at all tonight, maybe not even for several games if UCLA has only close games and Cory Paus avoids injury.

But Scott McEwan knows things have changed. He’s the backup quarterback now, promoted from No. 3 when Drew Bennett was officially moved to receiver earlier this week. He’s on the spot now.

With nine college snaps on his resume.

With one pass, an incompletion.

“Now I have more responsibility, instead of just running the scout team and getting the defense ready,” McEwan said. “Now, I have the responsibility of being ready to go in and playing quarterback for real.

“It’s not extra pressure. I’m just more excited than I had been. Cory’s pretty fragile right now, so now I realize that I’m one play away from getting in instead of two plays.”

How well he would play if Paus went down is the issue.

“Mentally, he’ll be fine,” Coach Bob Toledo said. “He knows what’s going on. He knows the game plan. The problem is when the live bullets start flying.”

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Among several recent transitions at linebacker, none is more critical than Tony White appearing to return to good health after battling pneumonia for more than a week.

A starter on the outside, he played last week at Arizona State, but was exhausted by the pregame warmups. White did not have a solo tackle, and it was not until the last few days that he started regaining strength and stamina.

“I’m not going to give excuses if I play bad,” he said. “But hopefully I’ll be around 100%.”

Meanwhile, the Bruins have decided to redshirt Asi Faoa, who started the season opener as a true freshman, slipped to third string and then sat out the last two games because of a sprained lower back.